Nothing says “Comfort Food” to me quite like a chicken pot pie. When I was in high school, I used to beg my mom to buy those little frozen pot pies for me so that I could heat them up for an after school snack. I literally had to beg, too, because my mom was vehemently opposed to any form of frozen or processed food. She was scarred by a few too many TV dinners in the ’60’s. Of course, once I had a real, homemade pot pie, I never bought another one of those little frozen ones again.

Chicken pot pie is one of my “things.” You know the things that people ask you to make for them? The things that you bring to friends & neighbors when they have a life event? The things you make when you are in need of some serious comfort food? Those type of things. Chicken pot pie is one of my things.

But before I go on, I must admit that I will never, ever, ever again think of Chicken Pot Pie without hearing David Cross in my mind.

Way before he was Uncle Ian in Alvin & the Chipmunks, he was a stand up comic & buddy of David Spade. Mr. Cross played Donny, the scheming brother of Elliot the Photographer in David Spade’s ’90’s TV show Just Shoot Me. Donny feigned a head injury that seemingly compromised his intellect, so that his mother would have to take care of him forever–all as a great ruse to avoid having to move out and get a grown-up job. He would randomly bust out with a “Chicken pot, chicken pot, chicken pot pie!” Classic.

But back to the comfort food chicken pot pie: a creamy, vegetable-studded chicken filling encased in a buttery, flaky crust. Yeah. You know you want some.

I’ve made chicken pot pie from every end of the spectrum. I’ve roasted a whole chicken, then picked it for the meat, and made stock out of the rest. That is a heck of a good pot pie…if you have 7 hours to dedicate to making pot pie. I’ve tried to speed things up by using frozen veggies & cream of something soups for the filling. (Never again.) I’ve made my own crust. Used store bought crust. Single crust. Double crust. No crust, but a biscuit topping. (Say what?! That’s a cobbler!) You name it, I’ve tried it. This recipe is my favorite combination of all good things going into a chicken pot pie.

Preheat the oven to 400º F. Grab an 9 or 10-inch deep dish pie plate, and keep it handy.

Bottom line: Chicken pot pie is an excellent application for leftover chicken. In the absence of leftovers, I use a store bought rotisserie chicken is another great alternative. And when I can get two rotisserie chickens at the store for $5, you better believe that I’m going with the easy option!

If you’re like me and take the easy route with a rotisserie chicken, you’re going to have to “pick it.” Just channel your inner Paula Deen and start pickin’ chickens. Remove the skin, and get as much meat from the bones as possible.

I usually get about 4 cups of shredded meat off of a rotisserie chicken. The recipe only calls for 2 cups, so I put the rest in a freezer bag for another time. Place the shredded chicken into a large bowl, and set it aside.

If you are really on top of your menu planning, go ahead and get the chicken ready the night before you plan to make the pot pie. Just seal the chicken in a bag, and refrigerate it until you’re ready to make the pie.

Slice a small onion, root to tip.

Lop off the ends of the onion halves, and remove the outer skin and membrane.

Dice the onion, and set it aside.

Give the carrots a good scrub, and slice them in half lengthwise. Slice the halves widthwise into half moons. Set the with the diced onion to hang out for a bit.

Rinse the celery ribs, and thinly slice them widthwise.

You can also chop the vegetables the night before, and store them in the ‘fridge overnight.

Heat a little olive oil in a Dutch oven or very large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrots, and celery, and saute the veggies until they are soft–about 5 minutes. Season the veggies with a hefty pinch of kosher salt, and pepper.

Add the softened vegetables to the bowl o’ chicken.

Toss the butter into the still hot Dutch oven, and let it melt. Once the butter melts, it will foam up a bit. That’s OK.

Once the butter starts foaming, sprinkle in the flour, and stir vigorously. Continue cooking and stirring the flour/butter mixture for one minute. The flour will help thicken the sauce, but cooking it for a minute or so will help get rid of the flour-y taste.

After one minute, pour in the milk, whisking to combine.

Then pour in the chicken stock. Continue to whisk the mixture until it gets nice and smooth–no lumps. Be sure to get all the brown bits o’ goodness off the bottom of the pan. There’s flavor in those little bits!

Once the sauce is smooth, add the dried thyme and another pinch of salt & pepper. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer the sauce until it fully thickens…stirring constantly.

Taste the sauce, and adjust the seasonings to taste. The sauce should be creamy, savory, and delicious. No bland fillings allowed!

Pour the sauce over the chicken/vegetable mixture and stir to coat.

Add the peas to the filling mixture and fold them in.

Just look at that creamy goodness! Cover the filling with aluminum foil to keep it warm while you roll out the pie dough.

I highly recommend making your own pie dough–it really isn’t that difficult. But hey, if the thought of making pie pastry gives you the heebees, then by all means, use the store bought stuff. You won’t hurt my feelings at all. Well, you might hurt them a little, but I’ll get over it.

Once the bottom crust is ready, ladle the warm chicken filling into it.

Roll out the top crust, and place it over the filling.

Trim the edges of the dough so that only 1 inch hangs over the pie plate.

Fold the edges of both sheets of dough under, lightly pinching to seal.

The dough really shouldn’t hang over the edge of the pie plate. Now comes the fun part–the edging! There are several ways to put a decorative edge a pie. Bhg.com has a great illustration of seven different decorative pie edges. I typically apply one of the same two edges to my pies: A criss-cross edge, also called a bird-foot edge, or a fluted edge.

For a criss-cross edge, press the edge of the dough with a fork held at a 45º angle pointing toward the left.

Then switch angles by pressing the edge of the dough with a fork held at a 45º angle pointing toward the right. Continue around the edge of the pie.

Kind of looks like a little bird danced on the edge of the pie, eh? It’s a very fast, cute edge, and is certainly functional in that the main purpose of edging a pie is to seal the dough so that the filling doesn’t spill all over the bottom of your oven while it bakes.

You could certainly cut a few slits to vent the pie, pop it in the oven, and be on your merrily-baking-way. OR, you could opt for trying my most-favorite pie edge…the fluted edge.

After rolling out the top crust, cut a couple of 1-inch shapes out of the center with a small cookie cutter, or, if you’ve got mad knife skills, a paring knife. Save the cut-outs for later.

Place the top crust over the filling, and trim the edges to about a 1-inch overhang.

Flip the edges of the dough over forward over the top of the dough, lightly pinching to seal.

Use the index finger of one hand to push on the inner folded-edge of the dough, while at the same time, pressing against the outer edge of the dough with the index finger and thumb of your other hand. Continue around the edge of the pie.

If you are feeling a little fancy-pants, then brush the top of the dough with a little egg wash to make it shine.

Grab the little piece of dough that you cut-out of the center of the top crust, and put them on another part of the pie.

Brush the cut-outs with a little egg wash, so that they will shine, too.

Bake the pie in the preheated 400º F oven for 35-40 minutes or until nicely golden brown.

Let the pie rest for 10 minutes before serving. Then slice it up, and dig in!

Oh, and in the interest of making a long post even longer, here is the clip of David Cross’s Donny character when he gets busted, and the gig is up. It’s worth the minute and a half video. And it explains the inner workings of a vacuum tube, so it’s educational, too!

Optional: make and egg wash by whipping an egg with 1 tablespoon of water.

Make No Excuses Pie Dough and refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large Dutch oven or sauce pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Sauté the onion, carrots, and celery in the pan until soft, but not brown. (About 5 minutes.) Season to taste with salt and pepper.

While the vegetables are softening, shred the cooked chicken. Leftover chicken or a store-bought rotisserie chicken is excellent in this recipe. Set the shredded chicken aside in a large bowl.

Use a slotted spoon to remove vegetables from the pan, placing them in the bowl with the shredded chicken; set aside.

Heat the butter in the now empty Dutch (still over medium-high heat.) The butter will foam as it melts. Once the foaming stops, whisk in the flour. Cook the flour/butter for one minute…whisking constantly.

Place the flour and salt into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse 2-3 times (1 second pulses) to mix.

Add the frozen butter cubes to the food processor bowl, and toss with a fork to coat. Continue pulsing to work the butter into the flour mixture, until the butter is the size of small peas. (‘About 8-12 pulses, depending on the size of the motor on the food processor.)

While the food processor is running on high, slowly add the iced water through the feed tube, one tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together and a stiff dough forms. (This process usually takes 15-20 seconds total in my ‘80’s era food processor.)

Dump dough onto a clean, floured surface. Divide dough in half. Lightly shape each half into a ball, and then pat the ball into a ½ inch tall disk. Wrap the disks snugly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes before rolling out.

Once dough has chilled, roll out dough on a lightly floured surface and use in your favorite pie recipe. OR keep the dough disks tightly wrapped in plastic wrap, and then place them in a freezer bag. Dough can be frozen for up to a month. Just let dough thaw overnight on the refrigerator before rolling out.

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53 thoughts on “Oh, Yeah. Chicken Pot Pie.”

Kirsten,
You sure picked the perfect fall day to have us all make your beautiful delicious Chicken Pot Pie. I cringe in disgust when I’m hunting for a new chicken pot pie recipe to try and the first or second or third ingredient is canned soup, canned vegetables or a store bought crust. Every time I think – REALLY??? Are you kidding me??? I live in Colorado and have even had pot pies sent to me from the Good Hart General store. Have you tried them? If not, pick one up. Nice to know someone else is obsessed with REAL chicken pot pie as well. Thanks for the recipe.
Sandy

You are too kind! I’ve never heard of the Good Hart General Store…I’ll have to look into it. I’ll eat just about any pot pie that someone makes for me. Grand Traverse Pie does a nice job. I sure hope you try this recipe. :)

My husband is a chicken pot pie fanatic and I have not made it nearly enough as I should. I love your tutorial and your photographs. I’ve got seven containers of stock in the freezer so I guess it’s time I thawed one and made a few chicken pot pies. Won’t *he* be surprised.

That looks delicious. I love chicken pot pie, though this past year I’ve been making Moravian Chicken Pie, which does not include veggies. Those go on the side. I do use a rotisserie chicken for it sometimes. Sometimes I use my own roasted chicken so that I get the smell in the house and lots of chicken. Will give yours a try, though. Ah, cooking in cooler months when the oven can run for a while without overheating the house.

It’s a local thing in Winston-Salem, NC, and is used as a big fundraiser by the churches down there. You can also order big trays of it for parties. I can send you my recipe, which is slightly altered from a recipe that I found on the internet but can’t find the link for anymore, if you’d like. My parents like it, and have tasted lots of them from down in W-S, so it works for us. Add some veggies to it and you have a pot pie. We like to keep the veggies on the side, though.

I have two roasters in the freezer now, as they were bogo a couple of weeks ago. Maybe this week-end I’ll get one going and fill the house with that roast chicken smell. Then we’ll get pie next week, maybe with me being brave and trying your crust recipe. M’Lord will be happy.

Love chicken pot pies! I used to buy the frozen ones in jr. high all the time, too.

I read this yesterday morning, but got interrupted every time I tried to comment (yeah, one of those days). However, it stayed with me because I’m really eager to try it. In fact, I honestly interrupted a mildly romantic moment with LCB yesterday because, in the middle of it, I asked with all seriousness, “Do we have any chicken stock right now?” Yeah, I’m that good as a wife. Then, at dinner, which included grilled chicken, I asked him if he thought we’d have any extra chicken to use for the pot pie. I don’t normally ask more than one cooking-related question in a day, so I think he’s now secretly scratching his head. :)

My family used to LOVE “Just Shoot Me” and Donnie was one our favorite character. We also loved chicken pot pie, although we always had the processed frozen version since my mom can’t really cook much. But every time we had it my dad would sing, “Chicken pot chicken pot chicken pot piiiiie” just like Donnie. In fact, I think he still does lol.

Love chicken pot pie! That and mac n cheese are my “go to” comfort foods! I love it almost as much as I love to hear Darryl imitate Donnie and sing “chicken pot…chicken pot…chicken pot piiiiieeee”!!!! Thanks for the recipe!

THANK YOU for posting a recipe for chicken pot pie that doesn’t contain condensed cream soup. My family wants to start a tradition of chicken pot pie on Christmas, your recipe looks perfect. The pictures are VERY helpful, thank you again!!

Haha! You are very welcome, Jami! Condensed soups and I are not friends so I had to come up with a rchicken pot pie recipe that was made without. I hope that your family had a wonderful Christmas and started a new chicken pot pie tradition! :)

Hi, I just need some info and then I’m making a car load of these. 1-I want to make these in those 5 inch tin pie pans (like Swanson’s turkey pot pie). 2- Can these be frozen for later use? 3-Do you know the cook time on a frozen pot pie in a 5 inch pan?

Great idea, Lisalynn! You can indeed freeze my pot pie–just be sure to allow the filling to cool completely before assembly. Then wrap the pies tightly in plastic wrap, and then aluminum foil. As far as baking time goes…I can’t say for sure, as I’ve not frozen then baked 5-inch pies, but I would guess that you could use the bake time of the frozen Swanson pies as a guide. I’m guessing between 40-45 minutes?

I’d love to hear how the process works out for you. I just may make a car load of 5-inch pies, myself! :)

My Husband has requested Pot Pie for dinner and actually suggested just buying the frozen ones. NO WAY! I am going to try your recipe. I want to prepare the pot pie the night before due to time to work vs. dinner time. Will the crust get funky if just being in the refrigerator over night, or should I freeze it over night? I cannot wait to try it.

Hmmm….my first instinct is that if stored in the refrigerator unbaked overnight, the pastry will disintegrate from all of the moisture. Why don’t you just bake it the night before when you have time, and then cover it with aluminum foil and reheat it in the oven the next day? You could try freezing it overnight instead, but the baking time will need to be extended by quite a margin. If you decide to freeze it, I would also suggest covering the pie with foil for at least half of the time that it’s in the oven, to avoid over browning the crust.

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Comfortably Domestic specializes in simple, seasonal family friendly recipes, and spectacular baking from scratch. Kirsten's goal is to keep her own personal Bacon Slayer, four sons, and YOU well fed while dishing up a little Real Life on the side.